Oct 1 into the mountains

Slogging into a remote high-altitude Buddhist village in a snowstorm (2006)

For many years, our labors for the Word of God & the Testimony of Jesus Christ have inevitably taken us up . . . into the mountains. By God’s grace we have sowed into foreign fields at the ends of the earth and to the very fringes of the Gentile nations. And, in such places, the occasional Israeli backpacker would cross our path, long before the Lord directed us to give these our primary attention.

I found this old journal entry a few days ago. I was amazed to see that our methods have not changed, and more importantly, neither has our message. Moreover, it’s simply awesome that the Trents, both little children at the time these words were penned, are now laboring with us and having the exact same types of encounters in the exact same places twelve years later:

September 23, 2006 (Leh, India): A couple of days ago, I ran into a young Israeli couple. They were posting up signs in Hebrew for a party to celebrate Rosh Hashanah. I asked about this and then told these how much of a privilege it was for me to meet them. I explained that God had given the Scriptures to mankind through their people, and that because of the Jews, I could have knowledge of the True God and a personal relationship with him through Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel. These seemed stunned and could not get angry at such a compliment. Ironically, they invited me to their Jewish party. When the Nomad returned from his venture, he joined me, and we went looking for opportunities to proclaim “Yeshua haMesshiach” to some of God’s chosen. After all, Romans 1:16 says that the Gospel is “to the Jew first.” It was late in the evening, and the Lord drew us to the right place. The party was at a bakery, and it was quite civil. There was no drinking or drugs, just a bunch of Israelis sharing food and conversing around tables. The Nomad and I sat down and put a Hebrew Bible out on the table. We then started talking about the things of the Lord and witnessed to our Indian waiter (he was very open). The two Israelis that I had met the day before heard the name Jesus, saw the Hebrew Bible, and then recognized that it was me. They seemed pleased that I had come and were visibly moved when I introduced them by name to the Nomad. At this point, they genuinely sensed our love for the Jewish people. Later, the Lord allowed me to present them with a really nice Hebrew New Testament (Thanks, Jon and Linda Craft, for helping to supply me with these many months ago). I explained that Yeshua had changed my life and that they would truly find peace in the words of that Book. I really did not expect this, but they accepted the NT with gladness. Then, on a motorcycle, they sped off into the night. Please pray for Zvi and Netta; may the Lord show them that Jesus truly is the Messiah.

Eric and Mindy have left Leh and are presently making their way to Nepal. Lord willing, they will be rendezvousing with Brother Bishnu at the Nepalgunj border crossing and traveling with him back to Kathmandu. In October and November, the Israeli backpacker season there will be in full swing. Please pray that the Word of God will go out as it did in Leh twelve years ago and in abundance these past couple of months. I’ll be sharing some of those details in a subsequent post.

Speaking of Brother Bishnu, I first met him in 2007, just a few months after I penned that journal entry. We have been working together ever since. And because efforts and partnerships like this are what the Lord used to give us a burden for the Israeli backpackers that we would meet in places like India and Nepal, we deem it very important to continue sowing into these ministries as they now come alongside us. Make no mistake, the ministry of the Zerayim Colportage Board is to testify first to the Jewish people, BUT ALSO to the Gentile nations. For whether we be Jew or Gentile, our only hope is a Messiah. We all need the Jewish Messiah, the Saviour of the World, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Brother Bishnu, sister Bimu, and Jamie stamp Nepali Bibles prior to a trip up into the mountains not long after we all first met (2007).

As Bishnu comes out to meet the Trents at the border, he will have once again taken the Gospel up into the mountains. He recently sent out this report from Nepal:

Dear Praying friends and families, greetings from the Himalayas in the Name of its Maker! Please pray for our trip up into the mountains. My friend and I are leaving in 6 hours for Midwestern Nepal. We must drive for two days and then hike up to the snow level for two more days just to get to Barekot Village in the Jajarkot District. There, we will be teaching for two long days to some local pastors and students, real discipleship training. Six boxes of Gospel literature, about 4000 pieces, are loaded in my jeep. Please pray for traveling mercies, boldness, and a fruitful ministry. It’s exciting to go to very real ends of the earth with the Gospel . . . up into the mountains. His will be done! Thank you very much for your continuous prayers.

Yours In HimBishnu

Zerayim paid to print the literature that Brother Bishnu has taken with him, and we will continue to do so that the Word of God may continue to go out to the Jewish people first and also the Gentile nations. The financial support of many of you has been a huge help toward this end. Thank you.

It’s funny, in the same frontier border town where Eric & Mindy will be rendezvousing with Brother Bishnu in a couple of days, I had the great privilege of a fruitful encounter with a Hindu mother more than eleven years ago. She happily received a Nepali-language Bible that day.

This Hindu mother gladly received a Bible in Nepalgunj back in January of 2007.

Please pray for a young lady in Kathmandu who heard the Gospel from Brother Bishnu and his wife Bimu a couple of years ago when she came to the city from the village for college studies. She worked for them in their bookstore for two years and attended their house church even though her very orthodox Buddhist family forbade her to do so. Now, she knows the truth and studies her Bible. Soon, she will be moving to Japan to complete a university program there. This woman’s family is not happy about her faith in Christ as one of her relatives is a bigwig Buddhist monk who operates a large monastery in his own house in the village. Please pray for this sister, that she is able to find a Bible-believing church and sound discipleship in Japan. Surely, the Lord has His remnant there as well.

One of the brothers from Bishnu’s house church shares from the Bible with the aforementioned young woman.

The season in Nepal starts for Eric & Mindy in a few days. Soon, I will be hitting the road to seek out Israelis working in shopping mall kiosks. Lord willing, all of us will be rendezvousing in Kathmandu just after Thanksgiving to finish out the year strong. And inevitably, the road will take us up into the mountains . . . just like it did on this special day in December of 2006. We had slogged long and hard in the Manang District on the backside of the Annapurna Himalaya. It was late in the afternoon when we finally found the high-altitude yak camp. Yes, it was the right one and far off the main route. Two shepherds, new believers who had heard the Gospel months before, had been waiting quite awhile to receive copies of the Holy Scriptures in that lonely place. By God’s grace we found them, and they were so happy. We celebrated around a makeshift table with warm cups of yak milk.

Two yak herders who had believed the Gospel were so happy to finally have personal copies of the Holy Scriptures delivered to them in their remote corner of the earth (2006).

After a long hiatus, I resumed my exegetical study through the Book of Revelation this past Sunday. The message, entitled Little Details(Revelation 17:9) can be found HERE. I encourage you to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes. Also, we just printed these information cards that were pretty clear about what this ministry exists to do. Please consider investing with more than just your prayers in reaching the Jewish people.